Couple ‘living in fear’ after burglary

Two Scarborough couples have been left distressed after their properties were entered by a man in search of items to sell for drugs, a court was told.

A judge at York Crown Court said that he had read that one of the couples, both in their early 60s, had been left suffering from sleepless nights and feeling uncomfortable about strangers using a public footpath beside their home.

Before the court for sentencing, having previously admitted two charges of burglary, one of attempted burglary and being carried in a vehicle taken from one of the homes and crashed close by, was Jordan Michael Logan, 22.

In the first burglary, committed on December 21 last year, Logan, of Ryndleside, and another person entered a house in Sherwood Street after seeing the occupiers leaving, and removed antique jewellery, cash and a laptop.

Also stolen, but recovered from an alley close by the house, were Christmas presents which had been left wrapped in the house by the householders when they went out for the night.

The value of the items taken in the burglary was said by Nick Adlington, prosecuting, to be £2,233, but, he added, the keys to the family car were also taken and the vehicle driven away with Logan in the passenger seat.

However, they did not get far, the car crashing into a post box in Castle Road.

Logan then turned his attention to the home of a 60-year-old man and his 62-year-old wife in Castle Gardens, having seen them, whilst relieving himself close by, locking up their home and obviously going away for a few days.

The couple returned home on December 29 to find that their home had been entered, a camera and keys taken.

The keys were used to enter a storage area beneath the house where two cycles valued at £600 each were taken.

The householder then alerted a neighbour in nearby Castle Terrace who discovered that an attempt had been made to enter his conservatory, causing damage to UPVC windows.

Anthony Moore, mitigating, said that his client, who has no previous convictions led an isolated lifestyle after having to fend for himself without family assistance since the age of 16.

Adding that Logan’s problems started after he lost his job as a roofer and his cannabis use expanded into a taking cocaine and heroin.

The court was told that Logan’s benefit from his crimes was a mere £100, Mr Moore saying that his client was ashamed that he had lost his good name for this.

He added that because of Logan’s lifestyle he had found a 24 day on remand hard and would have problems serving a prison sentence.

Passing sentence, The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, said that the burglary of people’s homes was regarded by the public and the courts as a serious matter.

Warning Logan that if he offended in the same way again the sentences passed would get longer and longer, and adding that he hoped he would learn from his serious error of judgement, the judge sentenced him to 15 months imprisonment and banned him from driving for 12 months.